Waiting for Pete
by rottenwriter83
Summary: A short chapter about what's going on in Doctor.2's head while they wait in Bad Wolf Bay for Pete Tyler or pick them up. **disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Doctor Who
1. Chapter 1

**Waiting for Pete**

**In many ways this seemed very anticlimactic. They were just waiting. Jackie, who for the first twenty minutes wouldn't shut up, finally realized that neither of her companions were going to contribute to her rehashing of the last forty-eight hours and took to pacing in the sand and checking her mobile every few minutes for messages from her husband. The Doctor-point-two, as he had begun to think of himself, had found a rock to sit on. Sitting wasn't an attitude The Doctor was used to doing, generally. He was used to standing and pacing and jumping and squeezing and leaping and he'd done an awful lot of running. He'd lain and leaned and ducked and danced and even done a fair bit of skipping, you'd be surprised how often saving the universe called for skipping! But sitting was something he didn't do a whole lot of. And here he was, sitting and waiting. Sitting and waiting, and watching. He was watching Rose. Rose was still standing in the sand almost exactly in the same place since the TARDIS had disappeared. **

**The TARDIS... that was something he wasn't ready to think about yet. He already missed her. She was his oldest friend, and he hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye...**

**Instead, he drew his attention from the spot where Rose was staring and focused on his sneaker. Sitting brought one's footwear so much closer for inspection, he noticed. 'I wonder where that scuff mark came from?' he pondered.**

**Of course these were only the surface questions. The real pondering was happening deep inside. Questions he hadn't allowed himself to mull over were finally wheedling their way into the light. Questions that for years he pushed as far into oblivion as he could. **

**He'd lost a lot today. He'd lost his TARDIS. Almost all of his companions would never been seen by him again. He knew what was in store for Donna. He'd lost a heart... But he also knew he'd been given a great gift. The other Doctor, Doctor-point-one, he made it sound like he was giving Rose a gift. Even Donna helped to sell the idea. But this Doctor knew better. He'd said that to soften the blow of leaving her here, of not being able to take her with him. It certainly had occurred to him. It would have been so easy for him, to drop Doctor.2 here on the parallel world with never-shuts-up Jackie and swept Rose back into the stars. It's what he wanted to do. To have Rose with him, to bounce around the galaxy with her like they'd done before. But he knew it wouldn't last forever. He knew that someday a whole lot sooner than either of them expected they would have to say goodbye. Rose was human. Nothing in the universe could do anything about that. She would age and fade away and he would have to soldier on. Not only would he be lost and in pain without her but he would also have deprived the Earth of her. Rose would never have children, would never leave her traditions behind for another generation. And he would be depriving her of the life, the normal life, he could never have. But now, in the form of this crazy meta-crisis miracle, at least in one way, he could. And on days when he had a rare moment to sulk and think of her and he would feel that grief taking over his hearts - he would find comfort knowing that, at least in this way, he was growing old with Rose. **

**That Doctor got to go on for eternity assuming Rose and Doctor.2 lived long and happy lives together. Doctor.2, on the other hand, had to make sure that happened. Nothing would make him happier. He'd been dreaming of loving Rose since almost the moment he'd met her. Since that first run. Well, not the first run but soon after that. Until now he just hadn't been allowed to think about it. It made him too sad. Now the possibilities flew at him from that deep hole where he'd buried them. Kissing her, loving her, quiet days without running and saving and losing. He could learn how she took her tea when it was brewed properly and not made from some alien leaf - he could learn how HE took his tea for that matter! They'd see movies together and have proper Christmases. Oh and think of all the chips they'd eat! Then... maybe marriage? Kids? **

**Doctor.2 shook his head of the dizzying thoughts - he was getting ahead of himself. He still didn't know how Rose felt. He was worried that she wasn't yet convinced. There she was on the sand still staring out into nothing. Was she waiting to see if the TARDIS would reappear? Was she hoping it would?**

**Was she willing to give up that other Doctor for him? Would his dreams of those quiet adventures be enough for her? Would she always be looking for him?**

**Doctor.2 was still thumbing the scuff on his sneaker when Rose's sneakers appeared on the sand in front of him. Slowly his eyes traveled up her pant-legs and past her leather jacket, finally settling on her bright eyes glassy from crying. All those questions ringing in his head and all he could think to say was "Hey."**

**She huffed out a sigh that brought her shoulders into her earlobes and then blew it out in a long gust. Then she sat down on the rock next to him with a painful plop. **

**"Hey." She said back. **

**They listened to the surf pounding the sand for a long moment. Then Rose said something Doctor.2 was not expecting, **

**"We should probably give you a proper name."**

**"I could always use the old fallback, John Smith..." Doctor.2 answered without missing a beat.**

**"I always found that name so ironic for you."**

**"How's that?"**

**"The most unique man in the universe going by the most generic name possible." **

**"Do you have any other suggestions?" He'd go by any name she wanted to call him, as long as she called him hers. **

**"No. Ironically it's the only name that could even come close to suiting you. Don't you have a name? I mean your parent's didn't name you The Doctor, did they?"**

**"No, they gave me a name. But it's not really mine, is it?"**

**"What do you mean?" **

**"Now that you ask it feels like that's the only thing that belongs only to him now." It saddened Doctor.2 even more, one more thing that he lost today. **

**Rose saw his face fall farther into the sand. She wasn't the only one hurting. **

**"So," she blurted clearing her throat, "What next Mr. Smith?"**


	2. Chapter 3 : Pete's Perspective

Chapter 3.

Pete's Perspective

The drive from Bad Wolf Bay to the Tyler house on the outskirts of London was a long and mostly quiet one. Baby Tony eventually fell asleep and so Jackie had no choice but to stop her endless questions pelted at Doctor 2.0. Rose suspected The Doctor probably asked Tony to sleep so he could give everyone's ears a break, but she kept this to herself.

Pete tried to stretch his legs and arch his back from his seated position behind the wheel.

"Dad, you need a break? I don't mind driving." Rose perched her chin on the back of Pete's seat, just over his right shoulder. Pete shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe at the next lorrie stop." He really didn't want to risk waking everybody up.

"You know, back on the other Earth this kind of drive would take us the better part of a whole day."

"What? Just from Norway to London?!"

"Well yeah, we hadn't quite mastered these water tunnels like you lot have, not over distances like this. We would have had to take a plane to take this route. By car we'd be tied to land only. There is the Chunnel of course but -"

"What's a "chunnel"?" Pete asked.

"That's the tunnel they built under the Channel, but I think it's the only one like it in the world." Rose leaned back into her seat and left Pete shaking his head over the backwardness of what they now collectively referred to as "the Other Earth". Pete pondered over how easily the term seemed to roll out of his daughter's mouth. Pete breathed a sigh of relief, maybe this was a sign that she would be able to move on with her life.

From the moment Jackie had taken that leap into his arms she barely had any second thoughts about making his Earth her home. They came together easily, as if this Jackie had always been his Jackie. He did his best not to think of the two Jackies as the same Jackie. He thought in terms of ex-wife and current wife. And really, aside from their appearance the two women couldn't be more different – well, mostly. And it didn't take long for Pete to think of Rose as his daughter. He realized very quickly that the only reluctance he had was the sadness he felt over never having seen her grow up. He was stubborn for a little while until Jackie and he had a big row about it. When he admitted his sadness she called him a git and told him he'd be a whole lot worse if he let those feelings get in the way of being a part of the rest of Rose's life. She made a valid point. Now, when he thinks back on how resistant he was, he can't believe it.

Rose accepted him as the one and only Pete Tyler from the first moment she saw him, as far as he could tell. Her second chance with him was a gift, it was as simple as that for her. It wasn't as simple for her to accept life here on his Earth. It wasn't the weirdness or the driving on the wrong side of the road or the zeppelins she couldn't accept. She refused to accept a life without her Doctor. She tried to convince them it was the adventure she missed, the running and the saving and the meeting different alien-life. But anyone could see she was in love with him. She refused to admit it. There was a huge family row over the whole thing. Jackie (pregnant) started shouting horrible things, telling Rose how he probably had a doe-eyed blonde on every planet and he'd probably already moved on. It was at that moment that Mickey had stepped in. He didn't make any comments on the debate he just quietly began filling them in on some fissures he'd found while working with the guys in U.N.I.T. Gradually the three Tylers began to breath normally again. Cracks in the void, even tiny ones, meant that there was hope. Hope that maybe they could find him again. With hope, nothing else mattered. Rose and Mickey started working with U.N.I.T. everyday.

Pete sighed again and wondered how Mickey's story was going to turn out. He wasn't worried about him, the kid could take care of himself. But he sure was going to miss him. Pete snuck a peek into his rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of Doctor 2.0 gazing out the window at the holographic walls of the tunnel. Pete sighed a third time as he settled back in his chair with his eyes on the endless tunnel ahead.

Doctor 2.0 caught Pete's glance out of the corner of his eye. Mind reading was not among the Time Lord's talents but he had a pretty good guess what Pete was thinking. He knew he would have a very interesting conversation in his future. A coy smile caught the edge of his mouth as he realized that he found the prospect of talking to Pete Tyler as terrifying as facing Daleks or Cybermen.


	3. Chapter 4

**"I'm tired."Doctor.2 realized with surprise. He yawned for the third time in as many minutes and scowled at the droopiness of his own eyelids. Fatigue was a side effect of his new state of humanity that he hadn't expected. He was lying on his back in the Tyler's guest room in a pair of Pete's extra pajamas. He had been legitimately disappointed, he remembered with a grin, there were no snacks hidden in the pockets of the dressing gown he was lent. Apparently Pete didn't get the mid night munchies like Jackie's previous gentlemen callers. **

**Despite his unfamiliar fatigue Doctor.2 tossed and turned uncomfortably on the mattress beneath him. Not for the first time he considered sneaking down the hallway and up the stairs to Rose's bedroom. The two of them had very little time to chat since Pete picked them up on the beach. As soon as they'd arrived in London Jackie assumed an aggressive hostess role, ordering Chinese delivery and arranging the sleeping arrangements and talking at a speed and momentum only Jackie could accomplish. After he'd choked down greasy General T'so, Doctor.2 had spent most of the last couple of hours chatting with Tony and stealing glances at Rose from across the room. Rose had been disturbingly quiet, pushing rice and vegetables around her plate and not even bothering to argue with her mother. **

**The Doctor couldn't help hoping the house would suddenly catch fire, just so he could assume the role he'd grown so comfortable taking on. Rose knew him as the adventurer, the rescuer, the first in the line of fire. He certainly couldn't see himself as the laid back, futbol watching "normal" type - how could he ask her to? **

**Through no fault of his own, he fell asleep.**

**Rose ventured one slippered toe beyond her bedroom door and froze to listen. Her mother's loud vibrato had dwindled out a quarter of an hour before but Rose wanted to be sure she was asleep. She was tired of questions and voices. She was exhausted really, the toll of the last few days - the last few months really, had finally settled into her body, her shoulders and legs ached, her head pounded. The hot shower her mother had thrust her into had removed the oil and dust from her hair and the dirt from beneath her nails and cleaned the scrapes on her arms and legs. It used to be that a shower and a few hours sleep was all she needed to help her sort of reset after one of their adventures, her and him. There were times when she didn't even get that, they just jump back into the TARDIS and fly off to the next wonderful mystery. Rose sighed and leaned against her door frame, allowing a wave of misery to wash over her. She would miss their TARDIS desperately, the third member of their trinity, pushy and bossy and full of personality and noises but never words. She could still feel the gentle pulsing of the vortex in the back of her mind. A chord gently twanged there connected to her own heart. After The Doctor and Donna left in the Blue Box, after the last remnant of the flashing light had disappeared and tell-tale whooshing sound had faded to silence Rose stood on the beach and felt that twang - still pulsing on the distant edge of her consciousness. it never faded. She stood in the cold sand listening to it to be sure. Was it only a remnant left over from her connection to the TARDIS? Or did it mean something more? She wasn't sure, but she was thankful it didn't leave her with the TARDIS. **

**Finally satisfied that her mother and father had fallen asleep, Rose crept quietly down the stairs, passed the kitchen and down the hallway toward one of the guest rooms. When Rose reached Doctor.2's door she saw no sign that he was still awake, this surprised her since she'd never known him to truly fall asleep, she was almost convinced he didn't need sleep at all. Gently she pressed her ear to the door hoping to hear his feet pacing the floor in the dark but she only heard silence, no pacing, no snoring, no mumbling, no nothing. Panic ceased Rose into a frozen state, What if her left? What if he'd gotten fed up with her (or her mother) and gone off alone?! driven by pure fear of being left without him once again Rose twisted the doorknob and burst into the room nearly tripping over her own slippers, "Doctor!" she cried without meaning too. Doctor.2 jumped from the bed as if there were a hidden ejection handle and was instantly by her side.**

**"What's happened? Are you hurt? Are we in danger? Daleks? Cybermen? Ooolamals?" Even as the barrage of questions descended upon Rose's ears Doctor.2 leaned his head out the door to inspect the hallway, while shielding Rose with his body. When he found the house not immediately filled with domineering aliens he returned his attention back to Rose's face which had taken on a rather whimsical expression. "What is it?" he asked again.**

**"You were - sleeping?" **

**"Wha- well yes," Doctor.2 hemmed and hawed a bit in embarrassment, "it would seem that this body needs to recharge much more often than my Time Lord body. But you didn't bust down my door to ask me that did you?"**

**"Um, no." Now it was Rose's turn to be embarrassed. "I wasn't expecting you to be sleeping, when I didn't see a light under the door and I couldn't hear anything I thought, I thought -"**

**"You thought I'd left." **

**Rose nodded, unwilling to meet his gaze. Desperate to change the subject Rose asked, "Want some tea?" with way too much gusto. Before he could answer Rose was halfway to the kitchen.**

**"Rose -" Doctor.2 called after her letting his voice raise gradually in pitch to signify that he knew she was being evasive.**

**"What are Ooomalacks?"**

**"Ooolamals. We never got there, but don't change the subject."**

**"What planet are they from? What do they look like?" Rose couldn't stop prattling as she put the kettle on and dug out two mismatching mugs from the cabinet. But once the tea bags were waiting in the bottom of the mugs there was nothing else to do but wait for the kettle to whistle. Her hands were almost dancing in anticipation on the counter, she still refused to look at her companion. Carefully, Doctor.2 stood behind her and caught her wrists in his hands. **

**"Shhhhhh." was all he said, very quietly near her ear. With a deep breath Rose leaned against her Doctor and crossed her arms so that he was hugging her tightly. **


	4. Chapter 5

**Doctor.2 felt the heat coming from Rose through her pajamas and bathrobe. In the quiet of the night, or maybe it was just the fact that he was so attuned to Rose's being, he could feel her heartbeat. He swayed them gently to the rhythm. **

**"Do you remember when we danced during the London Blitz?" **

**"MmmHmm." Rose murmured contentedly. Just then the tea kettle exploded in a loud whistle and Rose jumped in his arms, burying her face in the lapels of his jimjams. Doctor.2 took his right hand from its place on her hip long enough to remove the tea kettle from the eye and shut down the heat. He replaced his hand on her back and rubbed it up and down her spine. Easing up on her grip on his shirt front Rose looked up into his face sheepishly, "I guess I'm still a little bit jumpy."**

**"Completely understandable," he said with only a hint of placation. Rose punched Doctor.2 in the gut, for good measure. **

**"Ooff!" Doctor.2 exerted with exaggerated indignation. Rose giggled. The two caught each other's eyes and held, he brushed a lock of hair off her cheek. His thumb was lingering on her face when he said, "I was so jealous of Jack that day." Rose's brow furrowed at him in disbelief but she said nothing. **

**"It's true. You seemed to like his suave nature and heaven knows you pointed out all his "Spock" attributes. " He said this last bit with a great roll of his eyes. "Jack is pretty dreamy," Rose said with a baiting lilt.**

**"I couldn't blame you for preferring him to me."**

**"Well at least I know now that it worked."**

**"What worked?!"**

**"Making you jealous, of course. Jack is a dear man and an amazing friend but he was only ever a casual flirtation. I could never truly fancy a man who is that much prettier than I am."**

**"Why you!" Doctor.2 tried to wriggle free from her but Rose held fast.**

**"You can pout all you want Mr. Smith but you are not allowed to be really mad at me about this."**

**"And why not, I'd like to know?"**

**"Because there was no other way to show you."**

**"Show me what?"**

**Now it was Rose's turn to roll her eyes, "You know perfectly well what."**

**"No."**

**"Oh come on! Sure you knew, even then, how desperately in love with you I was falling."**

**"You were?" the Doctor.2 asked dumbly.**

**Rose batted his arm as she twisted to put the kettle back on the stove. **

**"Don't be stupid," she said, only slightly annoyed. He caught her hand again before she could switch the heat back on, "When did you fall in love with me?" She turned back to him, her brow furrowed again not understanding how he could be so blind. "Since that first run, John, since the very first run. I didn't realize it until later. But, looking back, I was yours even before you showed up at my cat flap waving a plastic hand. Then I was even more yours when you clasped my hand in yours and taught me to feel the world spinning and then told me to forget you. Then when I swung on that chain and saved us from that pit of molten plastic - in that moment I became someone new, I found someone inside of me that belonged to you and your Blue Box. There was no turning back. You can't believe the feeling of loss I felt as I watched the TARDIS disappear, patting Mickey's head like I would a lost puppy. As soon as you were gone I knew I'd been wrong, I knew I'd regret it forever. You once accused me of only wanting to go with you after you told me you traveled in time - but I was already going with you even before you opened the door. You could have told me you traveled by sewer drain and I still would have gone with you."**

**Doctor.2 grimaced visibly, "I don't think the TARDIS would have liked that very much." then his expression changed to a smirk, he was thinking Rose had just called him John for the first time. And, for the first time it felt like his name - he owned it. The meta-crisis had taken his TARDIS, his adventurous lifestyle, his Time Lord status and even one of his hearts but it wasn't until this moment - only Rose could have made him a new man. She hadn't intended to do it. It was with her usual unassuming nature that she accepted his new identity even when neither of them knew exactly who that was. In one simple name she'd unintentionally reassured him that everything would be alright. He saw Rose open her mouth to say something else but she never got the chance. Leaning down, he captured her words in a kiss. **


End file.
